Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

Small businesses play an integral role in the Australian economy, with almost half of the employment in the private non-financial sector and over a third of production, and certainly in my community it is small business that holds up our community. In regional areas, like my electorate, small businesses count for approximately 35 per cent of all business types and, on average, employ around 10 people. Of these small businesses, those with one to four employees are likely to expand, and those with no employees are likely to employ staff as they grow. The importance of small business, particularly in the regions, cannot be understated. In this context, as a member with a large regional electorate, I support and encourage any incentives that assist individuals to start up businesses.

The New Enterprise Incentive Scheme has helped over 198,000 people start their own businesses since it commenced in 1985. Consistent with the scheme's intent, many of those who used the scheme would have otherwise continued to rely on social security or veterans' entitlements payments. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations website heralds the success of the program and provides some individual success stories. For example, there's the story of Mostafa, an immigrant from Iran with a degree in computer skills. Mostafa started a business in Sydney called MAZ3D, a 'stretch ceilings' business that prints high-resolution images directly onto ceilings. Mostafa would not have started his own business if it wasn't for the scheme. Similarly, designer Simone began producing face masks for her community in Melbourne when it went into lockdown, which was a departure from her existing clothing business. These are just two of the many success stories that you can find on the department's website.

The scheme has demonstrated success in providing a pathway to nearly 200,000 Australians to move off government assistance and into their own employment. At the same time I've got to say that, while this scheme has been operating for a very long time—since 1985—very few people actually know about the scheme. If you calculate it out, it averages out at just over 5,000 participants per year—5,351 to be precise. And so I pose the question to government: how are we marketing this scheme? When I talk to people who are Centrelink recipients, people who are creative, people who could really do well with their own business, they have no idea about this scheme at all. Similarly, when I talk to small businesses and say, 'How did you start?', particularly those that are just beginning and in that first year of business, they too have no idea about this scheme. I do wonder whether perhaps, in the jobactive world, providers didn't encourage people to consider this scheme. But I really hope that under the new Workforce Australia, and as we move forward, we can get the message out there: that you too can own your own business, and, if you are creative and if you have ideas for a business, as many people do, this is an excellent program to help you flourish and to help you turn that dream into a reality.

In closing, I extend my support for this bill and for the scheme. But I urge government to find a way for us to really amplify this scheme and to encourage more Australians to be like Mostafa and Simone and pursue their own economic independence, particularly in our regions.

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